Cal Alum Collin Morikawa Winning the Battle with his Back at the Masters

Collin Morikawa, continuing to be tested by a cranky back, carded his best round of the weekend to climb eight spots to a tie for 12th place at the Masters after Saturday’s third round.

The 29-year-old Cal grad, ranked No. 7 in the world, posted a 4-under 68 that included a finishing run of eagle, birdie, birdie and par over the final four holes.

At 5 under, he is six strokes off the lead heading into Sunday’s final 18 holes at Augusta National.

Morikawa has been a top-20 finisher the past five years at the Masters, including a tie for third in 2024 and a fifth-place effort in 2022. He has three top-10 finishes this year, including a victory at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am that snapped a two-year winless drought.

His status entering this week was something of a mystery — even to him — after he suffered back spasms while taking a practice swing at the Players Championship a month ago. He hadn’t played a competitive round since.

Given the physical and mental challenge he’s faced his week, the two-time major winner said his combined 7-under performance the past two days ranks among his best.

“It’s phenomenal,” he said. “It’s going to be in its own category, but it’s some of the best golf I’ve played, because it is truly putting a mental test into me from the start. Not even from the start of hole one, but from the start of the day when I wake up to just make sure I’m doing the right steps to make sure I can tee it up on the first hole and then get all the way through today.”

Morikawa said he never considered withdrawing this week, but admitted his swing “truly netted out at 50 percent” of optimum.

Max Homa chips onto the third green at Augusta National. | Grace Smith-Imagn Images

Fellow Cal alum Max Homa, 35, began the day tied for 16th place and dipped to a share of 21st after a third-round 71. He had birdies on Nos. 1, 2 and 8 to complete the front nine at 3 under but had just one more birdie and three bogeys over the final nine holes.

Homa is eight strokes back of co-leaders Rory McIlroy and Cameron Young, who are both at 11 under.

Even while his world ranking plummeted since a high of No. 5 in 2023 and its current place at No. 163, Homa has performed well at Augusta. He was 12th last year and tied 3rd in 2024.

McIlroy, who won the Masters last year to complete his career grand slam, began the day with a six-stroke lead — the largest ever after 36 holes at the Masters. But he shot a 1-over 73 while Young fired a 7-under a 65 that included eight birdies and just one bogey.

Ranked No. 2 in the world, McIlroy is attempting to become the first golfer to win back-to-back Masters championships since Tiger Woods in 2001 and ’02.

Young is ranked No. 3 in the world after winning the Players in mid-March. The 28-year-old American missed the cut at Augusta last year but was fourth at the U.S. Open.

American Sam Burns shot 68 and is one stroke back at minus-10, quite an improvement since finishing in a tie for 46th place a year ago. Shane Lowry, a 39-year-old Irishman who won the (British) Open Championship in 2019, had a hole-in-one on the par-3 sixth hole to fashion a 68 that puts him in fourth place at 9 under.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, one day after his first above-par round at the Masters, shot 65, his best score in 27 times on the course at Augusta National. He's now tied for seventh place at 7 under, just four strokes back of the co-leaders.

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